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Men V Women: The Economic And Financial Divide 2013

While 23% of both men and women participate in an employer-sponsored pension, fewer women have a personal pension (3% against 7%), with. (FRS T8.1)

Pensions: Male pensioners are better off and men are making better provision for retirement

It follows that women are making less provision for their retirement than men, with just 42% of women currently saving adequately compared with 49% of men.

As such the gender gap has continued to widen. The latest data shows the average savings ratio for women fell from 8.8% to 7.5% in the year to March 2012, whereas for men it increased from 9.7% to 10.2%.

On average, male pensioners have higher incomes than female pensioners. Single male pensioners had an average net income after housing costs of £257 per week in 2010-11 compared with £211 for single female pensioners - a difference of 22%.

Housing

Housing Market Confidence: Men are more optimistic about house price prospects

Men are a little more confident in the outlook for the housing market with 39% predicting that house prices nationally will increase over the next year. The corresponding proportion of women forecasting a price rise is 36%.

Consistent with men being more confident in the prospects for house prices, a higher proportion of men (55%) than women (51%) think that it is good time to buy a property.

Men and women are very similar in identifying concerns over job security as the main headwind facing potential homebuyers, at 59% and 58% respectively.

Housing Tenure: Women more likely to be homeowners and less likely to be renting

Single men (53%) are less likely to be homeowners than single women (62%). They are less likely to own their own homes outright (30% against 47%), and more likely to be buying with a mortgage (23% against 15%).

It follows that single females (12%) are much less likely than single males (21%) to be renting privately.